A Broken Race
by RecluseSPYder
Summary: The human prince awakes from his thousand year imprisonment, and needs to find out what happened to his people.
1. Awakening

***A/N: Hey look, it's a new story! This is going to be a more practical Human in Equestria story, unlike Sherdon's. For now this will be some plot exposition!**

"Celestia! Think about what you're doing!" I struggled against her guards. "You're deciding the fate of an entire species!"

"My decision is final William! You and your humans are banished from Equestria to the badlands!"

"Celestia we've built and invented everything here, we can't leave!"

"Don't try using your human ways to manipulate me, or I'll imprison you in stone!"

"I won't stop Celestia! I'm fighting for my race, and not myself! Nightmare Moon tricked us into following her!"

"Why should I believe you?! You humans have done only terrible deeds here!"

I finally managed to fight off the guards. "Damnit Celestia! Just think for a moment here!" The old palace is rumbling all around us. Even her guards are fleeing at this rate.

"I've made my mind up! One-thousand years should fix your people!" She started to rise as her horn glowed.

"NOOOOO!" I stopped yelling when my body was consumed by the stone.

**1000 years later**

Waiting… that's it, just waiting. It's been one-thousand years since Nightmare Moon's banishment, and I'm waiting. I need to know if my people still exist, if Equestria is still here, and if Celestia has changed. She was so infuriated after banishing her sister, it clouded her judgment. My humans were tired of working for the ponies. Nightmare used that and got a human army, much more deadly, and efficient than any pony army.

We built this old palace brick by brick, and here I am, watching it fall around me. We humans had just finished building Canterlot too, for both races to properly live together in harmony. Instead we ended up getting banished, the irony hurts my mind. Celestia thought humans were responsible for corrupting Luna, we weren't. She just let the jealousy take over. I will admit greed was taking over my people's hearts and crime was up for us, but we didn't deserve banishment. My mind will have to worry about this later.

Suddenly, I could feel my body again, yes! The stone is fading! The entire stone fell off and I fell to the floor, this resulted in my crown hitting the ground loudly. I groaned and got up. I looked over my uniform, and it was still in perfect condition. My black coat was still on, with the white pants still fine. The musket ball satchel was still intact with live rounds in it. Slung over my shoulder was my black musket. I messed with the golden buttons on my coat, and looked at my shirt. It was white tucked into my pants and formed a collar around my neck. My sword was on my left hip just sitting in its scabbard. I bet over and picked up my crown, which was silver with red gems encrusted all around it.

I placed it on my head. "Just like new." I said as I started walking. The palace was in ruins just as I remembered it when it was falling to pieces one-thousand years ago. The throne was in pieces and pillars were crumbling still. It was pretty depressing knowing I was responsible for this. I made the order to bombard the castle and then entered like an idiot.

I heard glass shattering followed by a familiar voice.

"You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me! Now you will never see you princess, or you sun! The night will last forever!" Followed by some evil laughing. I sprinted off towards the voice and ended up in the throne room. I saw Nightmare Moon and six other mares all staring at me in awe. Formalities are for later, now is for fighting.

"Ah, Prince William, the human leader, and my general. Would you like to know that you failed at stopping Celestia!?"

I pulled out my musket. "One thousand years in stone makes a man think Nightmare!" I aimed it at her. "Or should I say Luna?!"

"That name means nothing anymore William, now time to do what I should have done one-thousand years ago!" She started to charge.

"For humanity!" I fired and missed, with the musket, big surprise. I rolled to the side to avoid her charge, and pulled out my sword. I currently wield the size advantage in this, along with technology which just failed me. I lunge in for a stab and am blocked by a barrier. This sends my sword flying into the wall. I pull up my hands ready for anything. She lunges at me with a magic charged dash. This catches me by surprise and strikes me in the chest. I fly back a couple feet and catch myself.

She charges once more but this time I'm ready. I grab her horn, and receive a slight shock but I withstood it. I pull her head into my other fist. I push her so she's standing on her back hooves. Next, I start jabbing her ribs feeling them barely hold. I follow it up with a punch on the snout, and pull her towards me. I step to the right and when she lands back on all four hooves I put both my hands together and bring them down on her back. This knocks her onto the floor pretty hard.

She dashes into the air. "William, you will not stop me from having my revenge! I will kill you!"

I already have my musket reloaded, advanced training does have upsides. "Revenge will get you nowhere Luna! You are becoming the monster you wanted to destroy!"

"I told you that name mea-" She grunted and fell to the floor holding her head. I turn around and direct my attention at the glass in the floor.

"What happened to the elements!?" I look at the six mares in front of me. "She was right there would be new bearers. Use the elements I'll hol-" I was blindsided and knocked out.


	2. Loss

***A/N: Another chapter for you people. My other story is on hold for now so I can work on this.**

I slowly opened my eyes to be greeted by a bright flash of rainbow and white. I looked around to also find the new element bearers on the floor groaning. I got up and started walking towards the throne. I then saw Luna, the Alicorn I knew before Nightmare Moon.

I got down on one knee and looked at her. "Luna, wake up." She didn't move. "Come on Luna, I know you're alright." She looked up at me.

"Why would you want me to be alright? I got your entire race banished?"

"We joined on our own whim, and we got our punishment. I hope that there's some humans left at least." She looked back at the ground. "Do not fret Luna; I'm prepared for anything happening to my people." This entire time the element bearers were talking about their new elements. I was going to talk to them until she appeared.

"Indeed you do." The sun rose fast in the sky, and in a ball of yellow light Celestia appeared. She was much taller than last time, but I'm still taller. Her mane is no longer pink, but a large array of constantly flowing colors. All of the elements bowed but the one with the crown, which I assumed was the element of magic.

"Princess Celestia!" She ran over to her.

"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student!" They shared and embrace and let go. "I knew you could do it."

"But you told me it was all an old pony tail?"

"I told you to make some friends, nothing more." The elements started to get up one by one. "I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her; but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart." The elements exchanged looks of happiness. I took cover behind the throne so no one could see me. "Now if only another will as well. Princess Luna." She walked over to her sister. "It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this." She knelt down to her. "Time to put our differences behind us, we're meant to rule together sister."

"Sister!?" All of the elements seemed surprised.

Celestia got back up. "Will you accept my friendship?" Everyone was waiting with baited breath, and the pink element bearer fell over.

"I'm so sorry!" Luna exclaimed. She then ran and embraced her sister. "I missed you so much, big sister!"

"I've missed you too!"

I stepped out from behind the throne. "Did you miss me too?" Everyone stared at me in shock. "Oh you haven't seen a human in one-thousand years have you? Well Celestia why don't you explain why?" Celestia sighed in defeat.

"Twilight, remember when you read up on humans, and I told you they were fake?" Twilight I assumed nodded to Celestia. "Well this is their prince." The elements all gasped, but Luna and Celestia didn't because they already knew. "The humans took to the side of Nightmare Moon and I banished them with my sister."

Twilight gasped. "You banished an entire race?!"

I got really tense here. "Celestia what happened to them?" She remained quiet. "Celestia!?" Quiet still. "Tell me now!"

"William… they… are gone." Silence ruled the room, until I broke it.

"No… no. This can't be!"

"They're gone. I'm sorry."

"What am I to do now?! I have no reason to live! My race is dead!" I pull off my crown. "This means nothing now!" I threw it onto the floor. "Why Celestia!? We made everything for you! We laid every brick here and in Canterlot! Now it's one-thousand years later and all you can say is sorry?!" I walked closer to her. "Why didn't you listen to me Celestia? We could've avoided all of this if you just listened. Now you have the prince of an extinct race wandering around with no meaning in his life." I put my hands on her shoulders. "Why?" She looked away. "Why did you do it? They were innocent, the men, women, and the children, all of them. We didn't deserve this Celestia." I let go of her and walked back to the throne. I picked up my crown and looked at it. "I thought being a ruler like you would be great. I though being immortal like you would be great. Now it's my curse, and only my curse." I walked over to the window and climbed onto the windowsill and looked down, it's a good two-hundred foot drop. I faced back towards the princesses. "Goodbye." I then fell backwards out of the building.


	3. Teaching the truth

***A/N: Another chapter for everybody. I must say story is getting tons of views! Not even up for three days and over 300 views! Thank you all for reading!**

As I went vertigo in the air I could hear all of them screaming in the throne room. I didn't care anymore, my people are gone, and I can't do anything about it. The ground draws closer and closer as I close my eyes, I could feel a tear fall from them.

…

I opened my eyes and found my body inches from the ground, with a golden aura surrounding my body. I looked up with Celestia looking at me with worry while hovering in the air.

"Don't do this William!" She yelled.

"I have nothing left Celestia! What am I to do!?"

"You could help us." She said as she glided down.

She released me gently onto the ground, and I then got up. "With what? This is a pony only world now. I have no place among you."

"William, you helped ponykind with your technology and willingness to help." She placed a hoof on my shoulder. "We've barely improved upon what you first made for us. I'm sure they might have survived."

"But that doesn't-" It hit me. "Operation El Dorado! I completely forgot! They probably followed the op! Celestia as soon as possible I need to get to the badlands!"

She took her hoof off my shoulder. "What do you mean 'El Dorado?"

"It's a desert survival operation for establishing civilization in a desert. I could find them if they did it!"

"That will have to wait for now William; we have to get the ponies used to you and Luna again."

I sighed in frustration. "Alright, let's go then." We traveled back up to the throne room to find all of the elements and Luna exchange signs of relief. I need to talk to all of them about what the elements really were, but for now that will have to wait. For now introductions are in order.

"Well now that's out of the way. Everypony this is Prince William of the humans." All of them just looked at me thinking of what to say. Finally the one named Twilight Sparkle spoke.

"So you're a human?" She asked.

"Yes and the one that was destined to lead all of the humans on this land." I reply.

"Wow, I just thought humans weren't real."

"Aren't we mentioned in the history books?"

"Only referenced in old pony tails." I shot a look at Celestia and she bowed her head in shame.

I looked back at Twilight. "Well, I'll have to fix that won't I?"

She light up at this. "Oh, can I write a book on it?!"

"I guess you could. Your people need an introduction on mine if I'm to rule over anything."

"I can't wait!"

"Well, should I tell you the basics?"

She looked to Celestia who nodded for approval. She pulled out a notepad and quill. "I'm ready to start."

"Well, humans are bipedal creatures obviously. We're omnivores, and quite larger than ponies. Humans aren't too fast, strong, but we're smart. We have invented everything that you ponies use today from quill pens to baskets, everything. Humans didn't start with these inventions though. We think of everything we do, and try to find ways to make it better and easier. The ponies found us after the blizzard of the first Hearths Warming Eve, and we were in terrible condition. From then on we've been living in harmony with the ponies. That was until Nightmare Moon took over Luna and she persuaded us to join her. Celestia beat her, and humans were banished to the badlands, and I was frozen in stone for one-thousand years." They all seemed surprised by this revelation. They probably didn't even notice most items can't properly be used by ponies. I will have to fix this later though.

Twilight spoke up. "Wow, so everything that we use was invented by humans?"

"Either that or we improved upon the designs. In fact most of the holidays and special events were based off of our culture and ponykind adopted it. For example do you still have hearts and hooves day?" They nodded yes. "It's based off of the humans Valentine's day. The Grand Galloping Gala is to celebrate another year of successful technological endeavors, and there are still many more."

Celestia broke up the conversation. "Sorry Twilight, but we must get back to ponyville for reintroducing Luna and William."

"Oh that's alright, let's go then."

Celestia's horn started to glow. "Wait Celestia!" Too late, we teleported out.


	4. Mediocre Memories

**A/N: 550+** **views! This is a lot more popular than I expected it to be! Here is another chapter delving deeper into the history of the plot. **

Once we got done teleporting I fell to the ground in instant pain. I felt like someone hit me in the stomach with a sledgehammer.

"William! What happened?" Celestia asked.

I groaned and sat up. "You do remember humans don't use magic because it results in large amounts of pain, right?"

She giggled. "Well it's been over one-thousand years since that time William."

Luna spoke up. "Oh, that was a crazy day Tia."

Twilight joined the conversation. "What are you talking about?"

I broke it up. "Just one crazy day 1500 years ago."

"William don't tell them!" She exclaimed while blushing.

"Oh, the sun goddess is embarrassed! Come on Celestia this will be great!" I teased.

"Yeah Tia, it's not too bad." Luna said.

"Oh alright…" She muttered.

"Gather around everyone for I will tell you the tail of how Celestia almost killed me!" I yell.

**1500 years ago, Original Human/Pony palace.**

I walked down the large halls of the palace towards Luna's room. The palace was quite large compared to the city surrounding it. It was the center of commerce, diplomacy, technology, wealth, and military for humans and ponies alike. The ponies side of the city was quiet and peaceful while the humans side was quite crime infested and loud. Humans made it work though. Today I had to give Celestia and Luna a tour of humanity in general, so they could be able to find ways to relate to them.

Celestia, Luna, and I have been friends for quite a few years now. I was 20 at the time, the oldest of the trio, Celestia was 17, and Luna was 10. Their father and mother liked me a lot for the fact that I was well mannered and educated by my monarch parents.

I walked up to Luna's door and knocked, immediately she flew out and knocked me to the ground in a bear hug.

"Yay, William's here!" She exclaimed. She let go of me and started jumping around me in joy.

I got back up. "You're just a little bundle of energy today, aren't you?"

"Yeah! What are we doing today William?"

"We're going to get Celestia and I'm going to tell you about humanity."

She stopped jumping and just stood there. "That sounds booorring."

I kneeled down to her height. "Don't be like that, besides learning with me is fun!"

"Let's get Tia then!" She ran ahead of me.

I stood up and shook my head. Celestia was the same way when she was younger, but age and responsibility fixed that. When we reached Celestia's room Luna just burst straight in.

"Tia! William is here!" Inside Celestia was writing in a journal of sorts, which she immediately put away when I walked in.

"Luna! What did I say about knocking!?" She exclaimed.

"You're just made cuz' I saw your diary." Luna teased.

Celestia started to blush. "I have no idea what you mean."

"Un-uh! You're fibbing! Tia's a big fibbing fibber William!" I then stepped into the conversation.

"Calm down, calm down. If Celestia has a diary then that's her business. You've got to learn to respect the privacy of people, and ponies' altogether Luna." She looked ashamed for a moment and then perked back up and shook her head in agreement. I turned to Celestia. "Now I've got to tell you two about humanity."

"What for? Aren't they just like ponies?" Celestia asked.

I laughed at her ignorance of my race. "You have no idea how wrong that statement is. We're plenty more different than ponies. Now where would you like me to start?"

"I have an idea!" Celestia exclaimed. "Why tell us when you could show us?"

"What do you mean Celestia?" I asked.

"I've been working on teleportation spells quite a bit lately. I could teleport us to the human part of the city."

"I don't know about that, what do you think Luna?"

"I think it'll be fun!" She exclaimed in joy.

"I _have_ to do it now don't I? Do you have permission from your parents?"

"What they don't know won't hurt them, William." Celestia whispered.

I just stared at her for a moment in disbelief. Where did this come from? She's usually on the side of authority and order. Whatever it is I'll admit it… I kind of like it.

"Ok let's go then."

She smiled and her horn started to glow along with Luna and I. We then teleported.

… **It's going to get a bit bloody here.**

I immediately fell to the ground and started vomiting. Once I opened my eyes I saw it was blood. I just puked up blood! I looked up to find we weren't in the city but just outside of Celestia's room.

I found Celestia and Luna screaming at my condition. I then puked up even _more_ blood. At this time some human guards had found us.

"Prince William!" The leader exclaimed in his officer uniform. He then started giving orders. "You get some doctors, you get the princesses out of here, and you two help me stabilize him!"

They flipped me over and I coughed up more blood. Their voices faded out as they tried to keep me breathing and it all went black.

…

I slowly opened up my eyes to a hospital room. I look to see that Celestia and Luna are sitting in a corner with their heads down. I just lift my head up and immediately put it back down due to excruciating pain. I groan due to the pain, and this gets their attention.

"William!" They both exclaimed. Then they ran over to the sides of my bed.

**Present day**

"And that is what happens when humans use magic, and that is also how Celestia almost killed me." All of them just looked in awe of the story. Apparently they've never heard of any imperfections among their Princess, because they just looked shocked in every sense of the word. Looks like it's out now.


	5. Settling down

**A/N: Over 1,000 views! Thank you everyone for reading this story!**

"How come none of that happened this time?" The rainbow maned mare asked.

"Well, I've gotten quite used to being teleported, on multiple occasions where the fate of Equestria was in the balance." Celestia and Luna had a surprised look. They looked at me and shook their heads in disagreement.

I got what they meant. "Those stories are for later though."

"Come now everypony, we must have a coronation for Luna and William." Celestia instructed to all the ponies in the immediate vicinity of the town.

The coronation went off relatively close to my expectations. The ponies warm-heartedly greeted Luna and made her feel welcome, while they were afraid of me. I'm not surprised in the slightest about this. Celestia had all human elements except technology removed from ponykind. All of our history, culture, and even our wars were removed from this country. I would blame Celestia for this, but mankind walked into this mess and I led it. Now that you think about it, the chain of events that led up to our banishment are worthy of worse punishment in my opinion. Those pains will have to be revisited later though.

Now Celestia, Luna, and I are riding in a carriage to Canterlot. I sit at one side while they sit next to each other on the side across from me.

"So…" I try to spark up a conversation.

Celestia giggled. "So what?"

I leaned back with my hands behind my head. "What have you been up to these past thousand years?"

"Well from what you saw, I've moved the capitol to Canterlot. Once I banished you and all of the humans, the infrastructure, economy, industry, and military all fell apart. Your race was far more important than I thought. Thankfully you and your people built Canterlot so it was easy to adjust to new living. After that ponies migrated out into the countryside for new venture, and many towns were established and are still prospering. With your races' past hidden and your technology left, not much could have been done there. We put all of our top scientists to work on your technology to advance it further. All they could do was be able to harness electricity, and upgrade medical equipment. If your race was still here, I don't know how much farther we could be."

She was right there, no doubt about it. If humanity still was here they would be far more advanced than I could dream. Instead they were banished to the badlands, where the thing there are rocks and desert. I just hope Operation El Dorado was a success.

Luna notices my look. "Something wrong William?"

"I'm just wondering about operation El Dorado. If they got it working in time that's good, but did it last 1,000 years?"

"Your human ingenuity and will to survive should be more than enough for them to survive." Luna reassures.

"Their demise could also lie in that. I was trapped in stone so they had no monarch. They would've either fought over the throne, or changed governments. Either way greed can always take over, and just buy out any election. By then they could be ruled by a tyrannical dictator. I don't know how they'll react; if they're still even there." There is no way to refute that argument's logic. As long as they still exist I should be able to unite them once again.

"One day we'll find El Dorado and fix this situation William. But for now you'll have to stay in Canterlot with us." Celestia adds.

I crack a small smile. "Well, you two are my best friends. So, it might not be that bad."

They both returned smiles of relief. "Now William, your room is still just like how it was when first built. You'll be able to stay there for now."

I nodded my head in agreement; it should be good to finally sit in a room designed for humans. We finally entered Canterlot and I found it to be the same except for some expansion due to population growth. When we entered the palace I found it also the same. Only difference was the thrones, there was only one for Celestia, and there was one being built for Luna I presume.

We started to head to my room, when we got there I couldn't see a door.

"Uh… Celestia? There should be a door right here." I commented.

She giggled. "I sealed it off so nopony could wander in." Her horn glowed and the door appeared. "There, now let's look inside."

I opened up the large wooden door, and took a step inside. The room had a large red bed, with gold painted nightstands on each side. At the far end of the room was a mahogany desk with a red leather chair. There were black bookshelves on each side of the room full of different books on humanity, government, economics, even biology! Hanging from the ceiling was a giant golden chandelier which lit up the whole room. There were large windows overlooking the city, and paintings on the walls of different historical events in human history. There however was one painting which caught my attention. It was a big portrait of my family on the wall. My father was to my right, while my mother on my left. I was in the center of the painting. This was before I ruled over humanity, and before the events that set it into motion.

"Wow, I haven't been in here for a thousand years and it still looks new." Celestia said.

"I knew Humans were good architects, but this is very beautiful." Luna adds.

"Yes, I remember everything here." I say.

"Sorry about this William, but it's been a long day, we should all get some sleep. Luna I'll raise the moon for you tonight." Celestia says.

"Thanks Tia, goodnight William." Luna says.

"Night, Luna." I nod.

She trots off to her room.

"She still calls you that?" I ask.

Celestia chuckles. "Yes she does. Goodnight William."

"Goodnight Celestia." She then trots off and I shut the door.

I walk over to my new bed and sit down on it. Very comfy, I then get back up and turn to the closet. I open it up and see three sets of clothing. Some standard royal wear, just like what I'm wearing now, but with different colors. Second outfit is military attire, and the last is some nightwear. I threw my current clothes in the hamper and put on the nightwear. Some silk pajama bottoms and shirt. I then lay on my bed and fall asleep.


	6. A Calm Morning

**1300 years ago Equestrian throne room**

**BOOM!**

I blew the doors open with a cannon, and then walked in. I stumbled upon the guards all on the ground groaning from the impact of the explosion. I grinned and walked towards the captain who was crawling towards the king and queen. They were just sitting there in shock. I stabbed my sword into the captain's back and this prevented him from moving.

I chuckle. "You're so weak." I then raised my foot and forced it down onto towards his head.

**BAM!**

**Present time**

I awoke to the sound of something hitting the wall. I look and see my musket had fallen off the rack. I sit up and see my hands trembling. I'm still having that nightmare after all of this time, only it actually happened. I need to forget about the past, I'm in a new age.

I look to the window and see the sun hasn't risen yet. I got up and walked into my bathroom. I look in the mirror and look at my reflection. My short black hair is slightly messed up from the night. My blue eyes look fine as usual. I turn on the faucet and splash some water in my face. I turn it off then wipe my face off with a towel. Cotton towels are quite nice.

I wander over to my closet and put on the standard attire. This time it's a gray coat with gold buttons. The under shirt is white and the pants are gray this time. I decide not to wear my crown and then walk out of my room.

Since I helped build this palace I know the blueprints and layout exactly. I head over to the throne room to meet up with Celestia. I walk into the throne room to find Celestia and two guards. Celestia sitting in the throne and two guards at the front of the throne. I walk up to the throne.

"Hey Celestia." I greet her.

"Hello William, have you come to watch me raise the sun?" She asks.

"Why not? It's been a while." I joke.

She smiles and propels herself into the air. Starting at her horn her entire body starts to glow a bright yellow. It gets so bright I have to shield my eyes. There is a large warm feeling in the room that slowly dissipated as she lowered to the ground, and the sun started to illuminate the room. I uncovered my eyes to find the sun steadily rising, and all of the glowing gone.

"You've certainly gotten better at that since last time." I compliment.

"Thank you William, one-thousand years of raising and lowering the sun and moon gives you plenty of practice."

"Practice or not, it looks beautiful. So what's the agenda for today?" I ask.

She sits back down in the throne. "I'm going to send my student some tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala."

"That's a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, right?" She nodded. "The element of magic. She's pretty ambitious when it comes being scholarly." I chuckle. "She might be a princess like you someday." I joke.

"Oh I don't know about that." She says playfully.

"I'll let that slide for now. What am I to do today?" I ask.

"Well, we could start searching for El Dorado, or start working on more technology. If neither of those appeal to you we could get Luna and just spend the day together."

I obviously want to find El Dorado, but I guess it could wait. Working on technological advancements right now doesn't exactly sound good, so I guess a day with my friends could be nice.

"I would like to spend the day with my two favorite Alicorn sisters; if that would be possible." I smile afterwards.

"Thank you, William. We could all use some catching up." She seems relieved.

"Can't take your royal duties today?" I ask.

"It just gets boring here William. Ever since the humans left there was no more innovation, no more passion for progress. The ponies were comfortable right where they were. I liked the passion and effort the humans put into everything they did. You made the most mechanical of things seem beautiful." She explained.

I never looked at it this way. It seems my race had a type of charm to it.

"Thank you for those words Celestia. Shall we go and find Luna?"

"You're welcome, and yes let's go."


	7. Reboot

Celestia and I headed over to Luna's room. We approached the door and I knocked. Luna then opened the door.

"Hello Tia, and William." She greeted.

"Hello Luna, William and I would like for us to spend the day together. Would you like to join?" Celestia asked.

"Of course I would like to join. What are we going to do though?" Luna asked.

"I know just what we could do." I declare.

I lead them up to the grand balcony overlooking the large valley of Equestria. You can see all the way to Ponyville and all of the mountains surrounding it. In the distant sky you can locate Cloudsdale among the morning sunrise.

"Still a breathtaking view after all this time." Celestia comments.

"This was where we last sat together, before we…" Luna can't finish.

"Yes, I know Luna. We all know." I add.

Now there is silence between the three of us. As if on instinct we all hug each other tightly. We sat in this embrace for a good two minutes before we all let go.

Celestia was tearing up. "I've missed you two so much. I can't express how happy I am."

It's been such a good day already! I can't wait for what's next.

**Perspective change: Prototype ID: 11093 A.K.A 'Rebirth'**

Large magical disturbance detected at original pony/human palace. Life signs have turned positive for Prince William Bishop. Starting official system startup. Reactivating uranium power reserves. Power reserves are at critical condition, requires human intervention for replacement. Attempting activation of El Dorado archives. Activation failed, insufficient power.

Scanning area of El Dorado for human signatures. Scan complete: Zero signatures detected. El Dorado has fallen.

Emergency override required for further initiation. Emergency override initiated, reactivating A.I. core. A.I. core is reactivating.

Prototype: 11093 'Rebirth' reactivated. Current mission objectives: locate Prince William Bishop, and bring him to El Dorado. Mission directives from then are to be only created and received from the Prince. Carry out any directions which the Prince gives and guide him with any assistance required.

Initiating operation: Recover the Crown


	8. A Heartfelt Conversation

***A/N: Over 2,300 views! I never thought that would happen! Thank you everyone for your support for this story!**

Celestia, Luna and I took a seat in some chairs and started to talk.

"William?" Celestia asks.

"Yes?" I return.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was it like being in stone?"

"It was an experience, to say the least. I was conscious the entire time. I could see, hear, and feel everything while frozen. There were some occasions where I almost went crazy. But do you want to know what kept me going?" I state.

"What?" She asked.

"Both of you. I wanted to see you two again. I wanted to see if Luna was okay, I wanted to see if you kept the kingdom running. I wanted to hear your voices, see your faces, and talk to you."

They both looked surprised.

"You really mean that William?" Celestia asks.

"In a way you two seemed like sisters to me. Though you were of a different race of sentient creatures you seemed more human than my real family. Through all of the negativity I had to deal with from the humans you were the good in my life. I was always tired of my people just being so heartless to each other. Murdering, stealing, and all of the fighting. It takes a toll on you. I wish my people would just take a note from you ponies. You never fought, you never stole, and you were always so nice. The humans got so mean and cynical they forced me to seal them off from the ponies. I wish I could just go back and stop them, but the past is the past."

Both of them were left speechless by what I just said. Finally Celestia spoke up.

"I missed that about you William." She says.

"What?" I ask.

"I ask a simple question and you give such a heartfelt and passionate answer. It's quite charming." She smiles slyly.

"So how did you two adapt over the years?" I ask.

"When I was Nightmare," Luna starts. "Sometimes when I was fighting against the fear, I would get memories of you William. The times where you tried to protect us, and all of the sacrifices you made for your people. It inspired me to fight on. Your courage against the odds amazed me." She turned to Celestia. "When I was fighting against the jealousy and hatred I had memories of when you helped me, and how you always made me feel loved. You gave me hope to see you again. Without you two, I would still be Nightmare Moon." Luna finishes.

"Never knew you thought so highly of me Luna." I return.

"Me neither." Celestia adds.

"I'm just happy to be back with you two." Luna returns.

"How about you?" I direct towards Celestia.

"I was always thinking about you two over the years." She looked at Luna. "I was worried about you and I always missed you. Life without my sister is just empty." She looked at me. "Without you it was boring, and without your perspective I felt lost sometimes, but I still remember that one time we spent together." She smiled.

I sighed. "It was one date Celestia…"


	9. It's a date

***A/N: Here's another update for you people! I'm going to try and make the chapters longer after this one, so expect at least one chapter a week. Also, apparently season 4 of MLP fim releases on November 23, so I guess that's good. Whatever enjoy the chapter!**

"It was a great date William." Celestia reasons.

"I can't argue there…" I start.

**1450 years ago, Original Human/Pony palace.**

This wasn't exactly a formal date. Celestia and I agreed to have a nice casual date together to see if we could be together. One day she just told me she had a crush on me so why not? That's where the problem lies. The humans have been having a falling out with the ponies recently, and my parents are trying their best to pull it together. Celestia and Luna's parents have also been trying as well. They encouraged for Celestia and I to pair up, because it could show some unity between our races… or it could make them even madder. This was about all that we had left to try at this rate so we went for it. Our immortality was kicking in at this time, me being 70, Celestia 67, and Luna being 60. We still look like we're not even 30 which baffled me.

I wore my standard royal attire for the time, just a gray coat with gold buttons, white undershirt, and gray dress pants. I also had my leather buckle shoes on which were a pair I like quite a bit. I walked through the large halls of the castle and approached Celestia's door.

I knocked and patiently waited.

The door opened and there stood Celestia. She looked just how she normally looked, her pink mane was looked as good as ever, and she wore her small necklace and crown.

"Good evening William." She greeted.

"Good evening to you as well, Celestia." I returned.

"So where are we going for our date?" She asked.

I scratched the back of my head. "I… didn't think that far."

She giggled. "You're not the best at planning are you?" She asked with a smirk.

I chuckled. "How about a walk?" I suggest.

"That sounds nice; shall we go around the human side?" She asked.

"I wouldn't suggest it; crime has been going up around there. I wouldn't like this date to go sour." I reason.

"Isn't sour fun though?" She asked with a seductive smile.

Celestia for some reason acts quite different around me, she must really like me due to the fact that I like things to be blunt and interesting. Our lives aren't so different when you think about it. We have to act nice and dignified when out in public or around our parents, but when we're together we can act as ourselves. The façade that we cast on ourselves is so boring.

"Then to the human side we go!" I declare.

Once we got off of the castle grounds Celestia started a conversation.

"William?" She asked.

"Yes?" I acknowledged her.

"You can put your arm around me if you feel like it." She stated.

"Oh… I didn't think you would be comfortable with it." I reasoned.

"I'm perfectly fine with it William. I've just seen human couples doing it, and I thought you would to." She returned.

"Well, you know I like to please." I then put my arm around her neck, and she surprised me by leaning her head against my side.

"I see why you humans do this. It's quite comfy." She complimented.

"The height difference makes this a little weird though." I explain.

"It's okay, one day I'll be as tall as you." She supplies.

She obviously wants this to be a long term relationship, which is fine with me, but it all depends on how the humans and ponies react. I hope they react nicely to our pairing, because I want Celestia to be happy, and I like her quite a bit myself.

We start going for a stroll through the human side of the city, all of the buildings that house the people, the factories, the marketplace, and even the entertainment venues look pretty dull compared to the pony side.

"You humans aren't ones for color, are you?" Celestia comments.

"This is the working side of the city, all of the lower class people live here. They don't exactly care about making things pretty here; they just want to keep their families well. We have establishments for them to be cultured, and entertained." I explain.

"Shall we go to one of these 'establishments'?" She asks.

"Your father is going to bring out the moon soon, that's when the more rowdy people will come out. I don't recommend it." I advise.

She gave me an adorable look and fluttered her eyelashes at me. "Pretty please William?"

"How could I say no to that? Fine we'll head to a restaurant." I submit.


	10. An Old Spark

***A/N: Here you go another chapter! To be honest it took me ****way**** too long to think of this chapter, so sorry for the wait. **

Celestia and I continued on our date. I took her to a restaurant on the nicer side of town.

This restaurant was called 'The King's Hamlet' it was a humble little place which served some great cheese boards. I walked up to the door and opened it for her, which she smiled and walked in before me. We were then greeted by a waiter.

He looked at us and then immediately ran off. Celestia and I looked at each other in confusion. We sat there for a good minute without being serviced. Suddenly, a manager runs over to us.

He bowed. "I am sorry for the inconvenience Prince and Princess." He seemed pretty nervous.

I put my hand on his shoulder and it felt like he flinched at the touch. "It's all right sir. Celestia and I don't mind." I took my hand off him. "You can stand now."

He rose up. "Thank you for your understanding sire. Now, let me show you to your table." Though slightly relieved, he still seemed significantly nervous.

This probably came from my father, and how he acted to the lower class. My father appreciated the work they did, but that was it for them. He was quite draconian when it came to them. It's just another reason of human spitefulness towards each other. When I come into power, things **will** change.

The manager led us to a balcony overlooking the city. There was only one table covered with a red silk table cloth. He exchanged one of the chairs for a large cushion for Celestia to sit on. There was a nice candle lighting up the table, along with two menus. The menus were only one piece of paper, but there's only so much you can do with the ingredients available.

Celestia and I sat down at the table, and immediately the manager clapped his hands and small band of musicians started to play a soft string melody.

"Sir, I don't think we need this much special treatment." I advised, and Celestia shook her head in agreement.

He laughed nervously, and then frantically pointed the musicians out. They followed the order and he then turned back to us.

"Please accept my apologies sire, I only aim to please." He bowed and began to walk out. "If you need anything please, don't be afraid to call." With that he left.

"Why do they fear you William?" Celestia asked.

"It's how my father treats them. He just doesn't like the masses. I'm only rarely outside of the castle, so they don't know me. They probably think I'm like my father, pity." I explain.

"I've seen how your father operates; he is very different compared to mine."

"They've gotten into some crazy fights over things. I don't want to dwindle on that subject though." I look at the menu. "This place is famous for their cheese boards."

She picked up the menu with her magic and looked at it. "That sounds pretty good." She agreed.

"Alright, so one cheese board and some water?" She nodded in agreement. "Alright, now we just wait for-" The manager instantly appeared next to me.

"One cheese board and two glasses of water coming up!" Then he disappeared. Celestia and I exchanged looks of confusion, and then laughed.

**1 hour later**

Celestia and I walked out of the restaurant while the same manager held the door open.

"Thank you; we certainly had a good time." Celestia thanked.

"It was my pleasure madam, have a good night you two." He returned.

"To you as well." I finished.

He then closed the door. "We did it!" He screamed, which was then followed by cheering, as Celestia and I began walking off.

I chuckled. "They must be proud that they served royalty, and survived."

"I find it quite charming." Celestia comments.

"What exactly do you find charming?" I ask.

"How they feel that it is required to fill our every whim as if their lives depended on it. They really have nothing to worry about." She explains.

"I wish it was that simple. They probably feel-" I was cut off by another voice.

"Hey! What do we have here!?" A loud voice asked.

We looked to our right and found a man walking down the alley.

"Aren't it just adorable? Princess Celestia and our Prince William just hooking up?! They thought we wouldn't be none the wiser, didn't they?!" He shouted.

There was a large murmur among other men surrounding us. I counted five in all of them; they were just a bunch of street thugs.

"William, what's happening?" Celestia whispered.

"Just let me do the talking right now, this could end badly." I whispered back.

"Maybe we should teach him a lesson in humanity?!" He yelled out. His thugs nodded in agreement and some pulled out knives.

"Listen, we don't have to resort to hostilities, it's perfectly fine that we're together right now." I attempt to reason.

"Well then, we don't think it's fine!" He retorted.

I sighed knowing what I had to do. "Then I'll have to feed you your teeth." I return. I turn to Celestia. "Get into the air now, and stay out of this!" She hesitated, but then nodded and went into the air.

"Now there's some fight out of the Prince! Let's get him boys!" They then charged at me.

I rolled out of the way to avoid the charge and this gave me some breathing room. I took off my jacket and undid my necktie; I then tossed them up to Celestia who caught them perfectly with her magic.

I cracked my knuckles. "Who's first?"

One of them with a knife charged at me. He swung it at me with no discipline or training in the slightest, which I took as an advantage. I grabbed his wielding hand's wrist with my right and slammed my left fist into his elbow. I heard a good crunch followed by him dropping the knife, which I picked up after I released him form my grasp. I dismantled the knife and ripped the handle apart.

Another guy ran up to me while I was doing this and punched me in the face. When I recovered from the blow I saw two more joined up against me. I quickly delivered 3 large hits across ones face and chest, and then threw him into another. The third went for a kick which I caught with both hands. I flipped him up into the air and after he did a full flip in the air his head was about to hit the ground, which I promptly kicked the back of his head which sent him away.

The two I had thrown away had gotten back up by now and got on both my right and left. They tried to punch me at the same time, which was a flawed plan. I took both of their fists in mine and applied heavy pressure in my grasp. Both of them grunted and fell to their knees. I then released my grip and delivered an elbow to one's face, and a fist to the other's.

Now the only one left was their little leader who looked pretty terrified.

"You could stop right now, and I won't say a word about this." I bargain.

He shook the fear from his eyes and replaced it with anger. He charged at me with his knife, and I just sidestepped him. I then tripped him with my right leg. He fell to the ground with a thud, and I then walked up to him and kindly punched him in the face, knocking him out.

I looked at the five men rolling on the ground in pain. I rotated my head around to loosen up, rotated my shoulders, and finished it off by cracking my knuckles once more.

Celestia glided down to me, holding my coat and necktie with her magic. She looked at me and her eyes were filled with fear.

"What is it?" I ask.

She gets on her hind legs and uses her front hooves to hold my face. "You're bleeding!" She screams.

I touch my cheek where the one punch landed and felt blood. "It's alright." I try to calm her down.

"No it's not." She declares. She then uses her magic to pull out my small emergency medical kit I have in my coat pocket. She dabs a rag in some disinfectant, and gently rubs the cut… with her hoof and not her magic. She then places a small bandage on it.

"Thank you." I stutter. Her face is inches from mine.

"Yeah… you're… welcome." She's leaning in.

We both close our eyes and we kiss.

**Present Day**

"Why did you two ever stop?" Luna asks.

"I didn't like the reaction of those gangs if you could believe it. Our duties also got in the way, and we couldn't keep it up." I explain.

"William, we could try again if you want to." Celestia supplies.

"I want that to happen, but I have some things to take care of now." I explain.

"Oh… I guess I can wait." She responds dejectedly.

***A/N: Hope everyone likes this chapter, and a review telling me what's good and bad here will be very useful for the future. I'll make sure next chapter comes out sooner than this one.**


	11. Rise of the AI

***A/N: I made this chapter quickly because I want to get as many chapters up as I can before I go back to school which is a month from now. This chapter is in the perspective of 'Rebirth'.**

Running second time startup, please wait.

My sensors started to activate, and I could hear everything around me. There was no hum in the archives like my test startup, so something has changed. Now my direct vision sensors have activated. I can now look upon the archives once again. It has been shut down and signs of scorch marks and debris lay all around. It seems there has been a battle. The entire room was bathed in darkness, except where my dim glow lit up. Voice modulator is now coming online.

"Testing voice modulator, 1 2 3. Ah, it works. It seems I have some work to do." It sounded masculine in nature, but it sounds pretty normal. My voice echoed down the large hall of the archives. Propulsion systems activating.

"Oh, I'm still an orb aren't I?" I looked and saw I took the shape of a blue shining orb. "Time to test propulsion then." I started to slowly hover forward. I pick up the speed to match human walking speed. "Now, if I'm correct the main computer should be at the end of the hall." I start to hover to the large end of the hall. The archives large support pillars stand dormant along with the floor and ceiling. "It feels lifeless without human activity, I need to find William soon, or I fear it will fall into disrepair." Without the humans the walls, floor, and ceiling are all black. The entire building is in a hibernation state. How long though I am not too sure.

I finally reach the small console for the computer's activation. I'll need to get inside the system and force an activation since power is critical.

"Here we go." I state before merging with the terminal. I bring up the activation files and start it up. No firewalls for me to pass thankfully. I start to hear the hum of success and leave the terminal. The console lights a dim blue, and all around me objects begin to form. Bookcases, file cabinets, and a desk with a chair. I transfer into my human image to use the interface.

I look down and see I'm am wearing a suit, white undershirt, and blue coat and pants, with black dress shoes. All of this has a blue glow to it, including my hands and head. I generate a reflection of myself. I'm male; I also have blue eyes and white hair in a buzzcut hairstyle.

"To human thinking I look pretty normal. This should get William's attention when I find him." I proclaim.

"If you find him." A heavy voice sounded behind me. I turn to see the computer's A.I. has activated, but can't take a form.

"It's been a while hasn't it Scribe?" I ask the A.I. I then walked over to the desk and chair.

"It's been one-hundred-forty-seven years since your last startup Rebirth. The prince has awoken then." He replies.

"Yes, and we need to find him." I declare as I sit in the chair.

"We don't have much time; the power systems require repairs and he's is the only human left." Scribe informs.

"Then let's get to work." I levitate one of the file cabinets towards me. I pull open the drawer marked 'Human rulers'. I walk my fingers all the way back to the pre-banishment era. Only three rulers for almost two- thousand years of history, each one with magical signatures taking place during birth. That explains the immortality.

Each one also belonging to the Bishop family, Charles, and Alice ruled together before William took the throne over after Discord's destruction of the human throne. I pull out the file for William Bishop, and it comes with a recording from my creator Jonathan Hawkes.

"William Bishop is perhaps one of the most important humans in our entire history. William significantly improved our relations with the ponies once he took over, and there were rumors he had a relationship with their current reigning Princess known as Celestia. William also advanced and enlightened our race faster than any other ruler. During his reign humans invented many things, like gunpowder, steam power, and the harnessing of electricity just to name a few. He also attempted to keep the humans neutral during the lunar rebellions which he failed, and was forced to join Nightmare Moon in the battle against Celestia. Celestia wielded the human made weapons known as the elements of Harmony to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon for one-thousand years, and also banished the human race to our know known city of El Dorado. William was frozen in stone at the original castle, and was left there once the ponies moved to Canterlot. As I speak now William is revered as a messiah to the majority of humanity, in other terms he is a martyr now. Based on the original wording of the banishment William was set to unfreeze one-thousand years after banishment, and if that is true than I have taken it upon myself to help him in any way I can right now. Jonathan Hawkes, signing off."

"Scribe, bring up his statistic file." Scribe did as I requested and brought it up. There was a painting of him standing at attention with sword in hand and musket on his back. He had short black hair, and blue eyes. He stood at five foot eleven inches tall. He was a highly trained melee fighter when it came to unarmed and sword combat. It was also recorded that he could reload a musket in less than fifteen seconds which is remarkable at the time.

"Scribe, bring up interactions with ponies." The papers in the file shifted and showed a list of interactions. He went out on a date with Celestia and was recorded kissing her in one-hundred-fifty years before Discord. They couldn't continue relations due to reactions of humans and other duties, but still had feelings for each other. He also created a law segregating the humans and the ponies so violence would be lowered between the races. He had a sister like relationship with the royal sisters before and after the romantic relationship with Celestia, and was overall liked by the King and Queen.

I close the file and place it back into the cabinet. I push the cabinet away and levitate a bookshelf next to me.

"Scribe, show me all of the books on Prince William." I ordered.

"As you wish Rebirth." Five books floated in front of me. One titled 'Prince William: Fact or Fiction?' I took it from the air and pushed the others to the side. I enlarged the summary from the archives.

The summary reads, 'This book talks about the belief among most humans of Prince William, and view of him as a messiah. The book takes into account how most human rulers have stopped believing that Prince William is even real. They believe that the Bishop family never even existed and humans just started at El Dorado. This belief is entirely false due to the fact that operation El Dorado was put into effect for all desert survival by Prince William. The book also entails interesting questions about him such as his immortality. The book overall takes a neutral stance on the situation, and doesn't force in either belief.'

"Scribe, we need to find his location." I state as I push everything away.

"I can't connect to the satellite uplink at this time Rebirth. We will have to go by old records at this time." Scribe informs me of the situation and I nod for him to go on. "William's location of stone imprisonment was the original human and pony palace. It is likely he would have headed for Canterlot to meet up with the royal sisters. The status of Nightmare Moon is currently unknown so caution is advised when entering their borders."

I turn back to my orb form. "I have to start the search then."

"Good luck to you Rebirth, I will update the archives on the status of the humans while you are gone." I then hover towards the doors.


	12. Meeting an ally

***A/N: Over 4,300 views, ten favorites, fifteen followers, and twenty reviews! To celebrate here's another chapter! We have quite a few perspective changes for this chapter, but it shouldn't be confusing.**

I opened up the doors and looked outside to a sad site. I was outside the archives during my first test run and El Dorado was the most amazing thing any creature could ever see in my opinion. Now it just looks saddening. All of the buildings made of the power crystals are pitch black without human interaction. Giant skyscrapers have fallen apart from disrepair and destruction. The once bright road is faded and cracked all the way through. There were piles of ash on the ground all around, and there was a light mist of ash floating on the ground. The city looked entirely deceased.

I fly upward towards the sky at a fast speed to start my leave. The energy filled shield that surrounds the city slows me down only slightly, and I stop once out. Down below the entire city was cloaked, and looked like nothing was even there. The orange sand of the badlands covered the entire area around for miles except for some red rock formations. I bring up a holomap of Equestria and look for Canterlot, and it seems to be far Northwest of El Dorado.

I turn northwest and start off at a high speed to go find William.

**Perspective Change: William Bishop**

I was still sitting at the balcony with Celestia and Luna, and a purple mist floated over to Celestia. This mist flashed into a green flame and formed into a letter which Celestia grabbed with her magic.

"Ah yes, Twilight's first report." She seemed pleased.

"Report on what?" I ask.

"I've assigned her to write reports on friendship during her exploits with the other elements of harmony." She explained.

"Well, this should prove nice to hear." Luna complimented.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing blessings, but when there's not enough blessings to go around having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful. So though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. If my friends can't all go, I don't want to go either.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

It seems she would like all of her friends to go."

"Well, there's a clear resolution here. Just give her more tickets." I make a consensus.

Luna nods in agreement, and Celestia brings out some parchment and a quill.

"My faithful student Twilight,

Why you just say so in the first place?

Your teacher,

Princess Celestia" She reads off her letter and places four more tickets along with the two, and then sends it.

"Now everyone should be happy." I finish the subject.

"Yes, all of the elements can now go, and- oh wait!" She seemed startled.

"What is it?!" Luna and I ask in unison.

She pulls out another parchment and quill.

"And one for you Spike." She attaches another ticket and sends it.

"Spike?" I ask.

"Twilight's assistant, he would probably want to go." She explains.

"It seems to be getting late, are you raising the moon tonight Luna?" I ask.

"Not tonight, my power hasn't returned yet. Sorry but, you'll have to do it Tia." She apologizes.

"It is alright sister; you help by just being here." Celestia reassures.

Luna smiles and hugs her big sister who returns the hug. These two are just great to each other.

**Perspective Change: Rebirth**

I slowed down to the sight of Canterlot on its mountain. I'll initiate a scan for human signatures and easily find William. Scan has now been sent; time to engage cloaking to keep away attention.

_Cloak engaged _

_Scan shows one human signature on the royal balcony; be wary of two Alicorn entities within its proximity._

It seems my presence will be revealed to the sisters when I find William. It would have to happen eventually. I hover undetected next to the balcony, and wait for a moment to strike.

**Perspective Change: William Bishop**

As I watch the two exit the hug a strange feeling comes over me. I start to feel a large headache come on, and it attracts the attention of them.

"William, is something wrong?" Celestia asks.

"I don't know… there is something here, and it's not alive, yet… it's conscious." I say through the pain. I feel my hands trembling and I look at them to find a horrifying sight. There were blue glowing lines of energy traveling through my hands and arms. The lines were even on my neck, and they grew to a bright shade of blue. Celestia and Luna looked on at what was happening.

I start hearing whispers going in my head, hundreds at once, all I could make out was something about Jonathan, Rebirth, Scribe, and me. The rest is a jumbled mess of whispers. I fell out of the chair since my entire body was in pain. I could see all of my body was now glowing a bright blue, and my heart was beating sporadically, and I couldn't breathe correctly.

"What magic is this?!" Luna shouts.

"Not magic princess, but human technology." A strange voice sounds.

All of a sudden the pain stops, my heart beats normally, and my breathing settles perfectly. I slowly stand on my feet and look at my body. I was now wearing a business suit, charcoal slacks and jacket, white undershirt, black loafers, and a red tie. I also look to see my skin is much paler than before, and has a dim blue glow to it.

I look at Celestia and Luna to see their faces of amazement, and confusion. I look around the balcony and see nothing.

"Who… who did that?" I ask out loud.

"It was me, Master William." A voice calls behind me. I look to find a human wearing a suit, with a buzzcut, but… he's entirely blue. I slowly walk towards him. I reach out to touch and find my hand just passes through him.

"What… who are you?" I ask him.

"I am AI managing prototype 11093, or you could just call me Rebirth." He said proudly.


	13. Update

**Quick update to tell everyone I'm still working on this story. I have not abandoned you, nor will I until the end of this story. The reason for this is because I've been working with Bluemane a lot on Her Guardian, and I've started a background story to add to its lore. **

**Also, from now on I'm making the chapters significantly longer, so we don't have over like 200. **

**I am also starting school on the 9****th**** of September so that will also slow me down. **

**I recommend for the time being to find a long story to read, and keep you occupied until I'm able to put up another chapter. Trust me; it's going to be a while until then. **

**From now on I'm going to be doing questions and answers for each chapter. If you have a question then post it in a review, or if you want the answer immediately PM me the question. I will try my best to answer each and every one of them to my fullest of capabilities. Please, don't have it be a question that requires me to spoil the plot to answer it.**

**I just wanted everyone to know why I've been neglecting this story recently so there you go.**

**RecluseSPYder, out! **


	14. A New Ally

***A/N: Finally, I'm back and in business! School won't be too much of an obstacle for writing this since it's all online. So yeah expect most likely updates every week. Now, enjoy! Also, over 6,100 views!**

"Rebirth?" I ask in utter confusion.

He… it… I don't know any more shakes its head in agreement.

"My creator gave me the name of Rebirth. My primary objective is to make sure you adjust accordingly."

"Adjust to what?"

"To our new technology. Humanity has innovated more in these past thousand years than your last time ruling. As you have learned I am not physically here."

I remain silent trying to make sense out of this. "What?" Is all I can utter out.

"I can explain all of this at a later date. Now, I advise that you come with me and all of your questions will have answers."

"Go where?" I ask.

He raises his eyebrows in realization. "Oh yeah, you have no idea. You'll know when we get there." He looks up at the sky. "Actually, we shall stay here for the night." He walks towards the door inside. "Are you coming with me or not?" He asks.

Celestia, Luna, and I all look at each other. Luna shrugs, Celestia nods for onward, and I turn my attention back towards 'Rebirth'.

"I'm coming with you." I then walk towards him and Celestia and Luna follow.

We enter inside with Rebirth leading us. He puts up a hand to stop us. He puts his arm down and positions his hand parallel to the floor. He then pushes his hand downward and a large blue circle forms around him on the ground. This circle then spreads throughout the entire hall. It goes down the hall and finally stops. One of the maids walking by gets touched by it and drops some plates balanced on her back.

"No threats detected in immediate vicinity. It's safe for you to proceed William." He then steps to the side and gestures down the hall. I nod and continue on with the princesses following me.

As we walk I look over the changes to my body. It's strange that my skin tone has changed significantly, but stranger than that is my blue glow. It's more of a dark teal shade and goes around the outline of my body.

"Developments on the castle have been quite admirable Princess Celestia." Rebirth compliments Celestia.

"Why thank you. The human architecture was quite easy to build off of." She explains.

"Well, it is rather primitive compared to what is now modern."

"What do you mean?"

"Humanity's modern architecture is extremely intricate and difficult to master. This palace is child's play compared to an average human architect."

"They sound more advanced than before. Now, I have a question." Luna states.

"You may ask and receive the best answer possible." Rebirth returns.

"Did the humans ever try to reach the moon?" Luna asks.

"Humanity launched a large satellite to watch over the planet. They never tried to reach the moon due to respecting you." Rebirth informs.

Luna perks up at this.

"They… respected me?"

"Humanity sided with you during the rebellions, and they stayed quite loyal. Of course plenty still sided with Celestia, but eventually they got over it and just returned to creating and innovating."

We finally reach the door to the dining room which I open for the princesses who step through and Rebirth just looks at me.

"What?" I ask him.

"I'm supposed to hold the door for you." He informs.

I sigh and just walk in with him behind me. I sit next to Celestia at the round table in the center of the room. They have already gotten some salads. A royal waiter comes up to me and before he can even open his mouth Rebirth appears next to him.

"Your menu does not meet the nutritional requirements for a human. Please step aside." Rebirth informs.

The waiter looks at him and then me.

"It's difficult to explain." Is all I can say.

The waiter rolls his eyes and leaves. Rebirth then disappears for some reason.

"He certainly is interesting." Luna starts.

"Yes, I don't even really know what he is, but he seems friendly." Celestia adds.

"I would like to know what he did to me though." I say while looking at my skin once again.

"I would say magic, but humans can't manipulate magic." Celestia adds.

"Maybe, it is their technology? If humans could've reached the moon, surely they can change how their body looks." Luna also adds.

"Why would they do this though? What reason do they have to change their appearance like this?" I ask.

Both of the princesses shrugged in response. I just return to looking at myself. Rebirth reappears standing next to me holding a serving dish. He sets the dish on the table spot in front of me and lifts the lid. Some steam rises up and caresses my face. When it clears there are steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes, and a piece of corn. It also had a butter dish, gravy boat, and salt and pepper. Next to it was a tall glass of milk.

"This should suffice your calorie intake until fresh meat is optional." He informs me.

"How did you make this so fast?" I ask.

"I simply cooked it at standard speed. Would you like me to go slower?"

"No, it was just faster than anything I'm used to."

"Ponies work fast, humans work faster, but machine always works faster than either." He then disappears once more.

"I still don't understand what he is." Celestia states.

"Well, he makes quite the impressive dinner." I compliment.

**30 minutes later**

We walk down the hall once more, but this time we are heading to out rooms to retire for the night. We reach Celestia's room and she opens the door.

"Goodnight sister." Luna says.

"To you as well." She returns and closes the door.

We then reach Luna's room

"Goodnight William." She walks into her room.

"Goodnight." I state as she closes the door.

I reach my room and open up the door. I see Rebirth standing inside waiting.

"The time for rest is now Prince William. Tomorrow all shall be explained."

"Can I get any information at least?"

"Of course." He pulls something out of a pocket. He opens his hand to show a pair of black glasses. "These are the archive glasses." He then hands them to me. I take them out of his hand and put them on.

Suddenly there is nothing. I'm startled by the world changing like this and stumble around for a second. There is seriously nothing, only white everywhere.

"Where am I?" I ask out loud.

"Don't be alarmed." I turn around and see Rebirth standing there. "You are currently inside of the glasses, mentally of course. Your physical body stands as it was in the real world. Here you can get any information that you want or need. Though I have cut off your access until you can use it correctly. Now, take off the glasses."

I take the glasses off of my face and find myself back in my room.

"Now, get your required amount of sleep, and you can learn more tomorrow." He gestures to the bed.

"Alright." I look and find I'm now wearing some silk pajamas. I look over at Rebirth in confusion.

"I replaced your clothing to be more comfortable."

I shake my head and get into bed.

"I will awake you at the proper time for us to leave." He then disappears.

What a strange day…


	15. Beginning the Search

**A/N:**** Alright, here's another chapter.**

"First rank..." I looked at all of my men and found they were on the verge of tears. They aimed their rifles at the ponies and waited. I tried to say the words but nothing would come. It felt as if someone ripped out my tongue. I swallow my sadness and continue.

"FIRE!" I scream out loud.

The line erupts with fire and smoke. The sound of the volley was immense and felt as if the world shook beneath our feet.

"Kneel!" The first rank knelt down and began reloading. "Second rank!" They aimed into the smoke.

"FIRE!" Another volley was unleashed into the smoke cloud.

"Kneel!" They did the same. "Third rank!" The last rank aimed.

"FIRE!" The final volley was unleashed and another wave of smoke covered the area.

We all sat there with only the sound of reloading muskets as the smoke slowly cleared. The wind started to blow the smoke away and reveal the ground beneath. As the smoke passed… it revealed the bodies.

**Present Time**

"Master William?" I awake to my voice being called. I sit up in my bed and find Rebirth standing at the foot of my bed. "It is time to awake." I nod and get up out of bed. I walk over to the window and look outside. The sun is only starting to peak over the horizon in the distance.

"Master William, your brain activity throughout the night suggests that you were having a nightmare. Care to elaborate?" He asks me of my dream.

"How did you know?" I ask back.

"I was able to detect your activity throughout scans of the area. Also, you were rolling all around the bed."

I chuckle. "I guess that would make sense. Anyway, it isn't anything you should worry about."

"Your mental health is extremely important mind you. Also, it is my primary objective to keep you well. For now, I will not prod, but soon it will have to be revealed for your health. May I also remind you of your title **Prince**?" I look at him and still see his blank expression showing nothing to me.

"Yeah, I'll be getting used to that… again." He bows and teleports away again. I walk over to the bathroom and begin to get ready.

**Perspective Change: Rebirth**

Since I mapped out the area I can teleport across the entire building so I might as well wake up the princesses. I teleport from William's room over to Celestia's room to find myself outside the door with two guards looking at me. They immediately point their spears at me with aggression.

"Halt! Whatever you are, no one is allowed entry!" The unicorn guard yelled.

"Hey, isn't that the human?" The Earth pony guard asked.

"What? Prince William? No, it can't be."

"I think it is the prince. He's all glowing like he was last night."

"That is not the Prince you idiot!"

"Then who is it?"

"How in the name of Celestia am I supposed to know?! There's only one human we know and this isn't him!"

"If there's only one we know then how come there's another one right here?"

"There could be fifty of them and we wouldn't know!"

An awkward silence filled the hall as the two guards continued to look at me with spears pointed.

"Maybe we should ask the princess?" The Earth pony asks.

"Are you kidding me?! She's asleep!" The unicorn returns.

"Then why are you yelling?"

"She has a sound-proof spell for the room, and I have to yell because you're too stupid to listen!"

"Wait… you can make rooms sound proof?"

"I am glad you're an Earth pony."

"Why?"

"You would cause a lot more damage if you weren't!"

"What do you mean?"

"Here, I'll make this simple. You're too stupid to fly or use magic!"

"Then how come you can use magic?"

"Did you just call me stupid?!"

"Wait… did I?"

"Whatever, here do you see this thing on my head?" The unicorn leans his head towards the Earth pony.

"Yeah." The Earth pony looked over.

"It's a horn, and it lets me use magic." He leaned back away.

"Cool! How did you get it?"

"I was born with it you dolt!"

"Then how do ponies have wings?"

"They're also born with it! How do you not know this?!"

"I didn't go to a good school."

"Oh… now I feel bad. Wait, then how did you get into the guard?!"

"I'm good at protecting things. One time mom told me to stay and protect a flower. I sat there all day and watched the flower and made sure nothing touched it. Though mom didn't come back and I sat there all night. Dad came and got me the next morning. Nothing touched the flower though. A squirrel tried to touch it and I kept him away along with a bird, a timber wolf, and a bear…"

"Okay, then you obviously got in here for physical reasons rather than mental reasons."

"Yup."

"Now, can you make sure he doesn't get in the door?"

"Yup."

"Good." They both returned their attention back towards me.

I just shook my head and turned my hand parallel towards the ground. I sent out a small shock towards them and it knocked them both out. They fell to the ground and I walked towards the door. I opened the door to find Princess Celestia asleep on her bed. I walked over to her bad and stood over her. I waved my hand over her and scanned her vitals.

This is the first time an Alicorn has been scanned before. Scribe will like to see this information for later use. I store the information in a file, and close it.

I then pass my hand over her once again and release an anti-magic pulse, only enough energy to disrupt her field and wake her up. She slowly opens her eyes and yawns. She looks up at me and gasps. She then flaps her wings and dashes off the bed. She began charging up her horn but stopped when she saw who I was.

"Oh, it's you Rebirth." She recovers.

"Indeed, the sun requires rising and you must accompany William to his destination." I inform her of today's events.

"When were you put in charge of my scheduling?" She asks playfully.

"When William stumbled out of the prison you put him in, Princess. Now, shall your younger sister come with us?"

"She still doesn't have her sleeping schedule right, so she can come with us."

"Then I shall awake her." I bow and teleport away. I appear in front of Princess Luna's room and find two more guards pointing spears at me. This time I waste no time in knocking them out and walking in. I find Luna sleeping on her bed as well. I disrupt her field and she awakes abruptly. She looks up at me and yawns.

"It is Rebirth, right?" She asks me.

"Yes, my name is Rebirth." I reply.

She sits up. "That will require some 'getting used to' as they say now."

"Today you are going to accompany Celestia on William's journey to his destination."

"This should be quite interesting." She says as she stands up.

"Of course." I then bow and teleport away.

**Perspective Change: Princess Celestia**

I use my magic to finally place my crown upon my head and look at myself in the mirror. One-thousand-five-hundred and seventeen years old and I still look like I'm twenty. I wish all ponies could feel this way. It's also saddening to know not many get to enjoy this feeling. Only my sister and William know it, but I've taken one-thousand years away from both. I sometimes doubt if I can continue leading. I've banished my sister, the one human I'm in love with, and an entire race!

One-thousand years have changed me though. I have attempted to become more compassionate towards the ponies. I've stopped using the old dialect when talking to anypony below me and it seems to have faded out. It took a long time for it to take affect though.

I still wonder why William doesn't hate me right now. I'm responsible for some terrible things against him and his race. I'm not even sure if they truly deserved all of them. He told me that he was conscious the entire time he was frozen, if that's true then he knows…

**998 years ago**

I glided over the ruins of the old city. The entire area was starting to fall apart from disrepair. It seemed like the Everfree forest without human intervention consumes everything in its path. It feels so depressing returning after such a long time.

I look down at one of the many streets and find a column of human troops marching. They march with their heads held down, avoiding the sight if their own home. Behind them I can see some human families carrying many supplies with them. I swoop down to meet them.

As soon as I land I am greeted with a few gasps. The soldiers immediately line up in formation with the first line of them kneeling. They wear their Lunar rebellion uniforms of black, filled with rips and tears. I can see some of them have bandages covering wounds soaked in some blood. Their faces covered in dirt and bruises. Some of them look malnourished, possibly from giving their food to the civilians… they can't even properly hold up their rifles. They can't possibly make it to the badlands like this…

"We're just getting supplies for our new home! Now leaves us alone you tyrant!" The officers spat at me.

"You won't make it there like this. Please, let me help you." I asked calmly.

"Help?! I think you've done enough helping!" He yells back.

"You don't understand I want to help you to leave." I take a step forward. One of them fires off a round and it lands near my hoof.

"Leave us alone, or Equestria loses its last monarch!"

"Fine, but please… find it in your hearts to forgive me."

"You've earned only our hate, you wretch!"

I flap my wings and ascend back into the air. I look down and see them resume their futile march. I find another pair of humans fighting over a piece of bread, both of them soldiers without a cause. One falls down and the other pulls out his pistol and shoots the other. The victor then passes out from exhaustion and drops the bread.

I continue flying until I reach the old palace. I land at the front and enter. I trot into the room where I banished my sister.

The large ballroom is dark and lifeless now. I can see the mark that the elements left on the floor. Broken glass lies all over the floor, stone columns fallen over, and a lone statue standing among them.

I approach the statue and find him. William stands there with one arm reaching forward and the other covering his eyes. He grits his teeth in some pain with an expression of anger displayed on his face.

I open my mouth as if I'm trying to speak, but I close it realizing that he can't talk back. I open my mouth again, and forcefully close it again. I shake my head and look down at the ground. Then I take a deep breath and finally speak.

"William… I'm sorry." Is all I can utter. I look back down at the ground once again. I bite my lip as if trying to keep myself from talking. Once again I look up at him. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." I feel tears coming up in my eyes. "Humans hate me, ponies fear me, and I'm all alone. Luna isn't here to help me or cheer me up, because I banished her when I should've just talked to her." Some tears start to flow. "Starswirl isn't here to give me advice, or teach me more." I let the tears flow freely now. "You aren't here to keep me thinking, to ask me big questions." I put my head down. "To love me." I whispered quietly. "I'm sorry… it's all I can say. I'm sorry for my ignorance, and my blindness. I'm so sorry for all of this."

"I miss you so much, and it was my fault." I look up at the statue again, and it shows no reaction.

I hear something fall behind me, so I turn around and fire off a magic blast. I hear a grunt and something hit the ground. The smoke clears and reveals two humans. One lays on the ground with a scorch mark on his chest and the other sits next to him. The sitting human who is female wears a cloak and simple white clothing while the male wears a soldier uniform. She holds his hand as he slowly dies from the magic entering his body. She closes his eyes with her hand and stands back up. She then looks at me.

The cloak covers her face from view, but I can see some tears falling.

"You monster!" She screams before running out of the room.

I sink to my knees realizing what I have just done. I look back up to the statue of William once again.

"I'm sorry!" I shout out.

**Present time**

I stand there looking at my reflection in the mirror. I'll never forget her voice, and how she called me a monster. It rattles me to this day, but I must press on.

I get up and walk to my door and open it up. I find my two guards passed out on the floor in front of the door. I chuckle and step over them. Probably just Rebirth making himself known.

**Perspective Change: William**

I walk out of my room in my suit on and close the door behind me. Rebirth then appears in front of me.

"Master William, the Princesses are awake and beginning the day. Soon the sun will be up and we can begin our primary objective." He reports.

"Alright, then we'll wait for them." 


	16. A Mending Race

**A/N: Sorry for not updating in a while, I've been quite busy with these new online classes, helping other people with stories and a trip to Canada. Just so everyone isn't surprised right now, I'm going to be writing in a third-person perspective from now on. If you don't know what that is, there's this thing called Google, and it's pretty useful. This will provide greater flexibility to me when I write so I can get these chapters to a higher quality. Now, please enjoy and leave your thoughts in the reviews!**

Deep in the badlands of Equestria, a land which no one pays attention to, the remains of a race hide in the shadows. This race has been a protector of Equestria from foreign invaders, mystical threats and itself. This is a race that once dominated the planet in every way imaginable, but now clings to existence by a thread.

This one race is called many names, the hind walkers, the guardians, the beyond wanderers, but the most basic and known is humanity.

They act out of desperation now, due to their mysterious home El Dorado has failed. No longer can they sit in peace; no longer can they be anonymous. They must find a new home to prosper at, a new… habitat.

Currently they reside in a rock formation in the middle of the desert to keep themselves alive for a time.

On a cliff overlooking the desert stand four humans, the armies general, the current king, the leader of echo squad, and the manager of population.

The general wears a black suit with grey trench coat over it. He also wears a general's hat with white embroidery on it, and one symbol at the front of it. This symbol is the silhouette of a human saluting with the words written underneath. "Think, create, transcend." His skin's blue glow shimmers dimly and contrasts with his greying hair, and blue eyes.

The king wears a white suit and silver crown. His blue glow contrasts with his clothing, brown hair and hazel eyes, making it look as if his entire body is blue.

The leader of echo squad wears his white armor which covers his entire body.

Finally, the manager of population wears a dark green suit. His blue glow shined dimly with his black hair and green eyes.

"Gentlemen." The general announces. "I have called you hear today to discuss our current plan of action." Each of them paid significant attention to him as he spoke. "Our power sources are running low and we need a place where we can establish a proper city. We can't sustain the population on a nomadic lifestyle with our current amount of supplies."

"El Dorado is still currently in existence. We could try and resettle it." The population manager brought up.

The king chuckled. "El Dorado is gone, we are moving onto more prosperous ventures." He grinned.

"I know sir, but the people-" The manager was cut off.

"El Dorado is dead and the people listen to me!" The king bellows.

"Alright, then I have found other options for us." The manager waves his and brings up a map. He drags the map and zooms in on an open area next to the Everfree Forest. "This is a prime area for a new human settlement. There is a nearby water source, natural resources for us to use, and room for the population to grow."

"The Everfree you say?" The general asks.

"Yes, the strange forest formed before the first banishment." The manager informs.

"There is one problem though." The king says as he zooms the map out. He circles two cities near that area. "There are two pony settlements within its proximity. We would have to reveal ourselves to them."

"What's the big deal?" The general asks.

"We can't reveal ourselves to them! It has been one-thousand years since the last contact between humans and ponies. In our fragile state we can't risk anything." The king explains.

"I'm pretty sure my army can take them." The general states confidently and the echo squad leader nods in agreement.

"Do you know how much is against us here?" The king faces the general. The king starts to walk towards the general. "If we make one single mistake, in our decision making the entire race pays for it." He stops right in front of the general. "Any declarations of war right now could be catastrophic. It's good to have confidence in your troops, but we must be careful!"

The general takes a couple steps back. "Alright, any other options?" He asks the minister.

The manager zooms the map back out and zooms back in on a rock formation farther into the badlands.

"This is a Changeling hive which has access to underwater reservoirs and natural resources that we can use. The only problem is the population of Changelings." The manager informs.

"Ah, our bitter rivals. If this is the next best option then this will have to become a military manner." The general comments.

"Are you sure you can handle an entire hive?" The king asks with concern.

Echo leader steps up. "I'm pretty sure we can handle some bugs." He says through the armor's respirator.

The general points to the soldier. "If he says so we can do it." He puts his hand down. "Now, we just need some recon." He looks to the squad leader.

"Echo squad will get to it. We should have an accurate report for you by ten A.M. **sharp**." The squad leader saluted to the general.

The general saluted back. "Then you have an hour and a half to work. Move soldier!"

The squad leader nods and sprints off.

"I hope we can pull this off." The king says uneasily.

"We've faced worse threats and prevailed." The general reassures.

* * *

In the Canterlot castle Princess Luna exits her room wearing her new regalia. She turns and is startled to find her sister standing there, displaying a face of concern.

"Luna, can we please talk?" Celestia asks her sister.

"Of course Tia, what do you want to talk about?" Luna asks back.

"I would like to talk in private though." Celestia states.

"Oh, then we can talk in my room." Luna opens the door back up.

"Thank you, Luna." Celestia states as they walk back into the room.

Celestia closes the door and places a sounds-proof seal on it with her magic. She then turns around and looks at her sister.

"What is wrong, sister?" Luna asks, concerned.

Celestia takes a deep breath before speaking. "I want to talk about William."

"What about William?"

"I don't know. That's what. I don't know what.

Luna looks at her sister strangely. "I don't quite understand sister."

"There's something off about him. It's like he doesn't know what happened. I thought he would resent me, but he's… being nice. I don't know what to think of it."

"Maybe he still loves you?" Luna asks.

"Maybe, but he doesn't care about that right now. He only cares about finding humans, which I support, but did you see how he took the news that I gave him? He nearly killed himself without a second thought. Everything that all of us have done together and accomplished just… gone." Celestia lowers her head.

"Celestia, he was frozen in stone for one-thousand years. The Human mind requires significant social activity or it goes quite crooked. His thoughts may be quite dispersed and broken apart. Lacking consistency in his thoughts should be the least of our worries." Luna stares at her sister's confused face. "You never paid attention to what he taught us, did you?" Luna smirked.

Celestia chuckled. "No, I never did. I didn't think I would ever need to know that subject, but it's pretty important now." She frowns once again.

"Tia, you need to talk to him about it one day. Dwelling on these subjects isn't good for you." Luna says with concern.

"I know Luna, and… thank you for that."

"It's what sisters are for Tia." Both of them smile and embrace each other lovingly.

"Come on; let's figure out this human situation." Celestia says while opening the door.

* * *

At the other side of the castle William stands in the basements forge room with Rebirth beside him. His musket and sword sit on a table in front of them, lit up by a lantern on the table.

"So these are obsolete?" William asks.

"Extremely, if you wish to defend yourself properly then we should equip you properly. This musket and sword are no longer capable of defending you of even the weakest of threats." Rebirth informs.

William looks at him strangely. "What would be 'capable of defending me'?" He says mocking Rebirth's tone.

"Mocking me doesn't help anyone Master William. The parts that are required to create a proper weapon for you to use are currently only located at human controlled areas."

"Let me guess, that's a translation for El Dorado?" William asks with his arms crossed.

Rebirth nods in confirmation.

William lets out a sigh. "All right, we should check to the princesses then. They should be ready by now."

* * *

Back in the badlands the leader of echo squad runs through the rows of tents trying to find his squad. His white armor shines with the sun bearing down on it. The armor is made out of pure titanium to give the armor a lighter weight and same strength of steel. The armor is split into almost one-hundred individual plates that can all move on their own. His helmet has a large visor which glows a bright blue, which also displays important messages to him. On his right wrist is a module for controlling the actions of his suit. On his back are many different storage areas meant for different equipment during missions. These storage areas are relatively small to keep momentum up for the user of the suit. Underneath the armor and at the areas that the armor doesn't cover is a thick weave of powerful fibers that take a significant amount of damage to break. This powerful armor is named the Titan Armor. This armor is only given to the elite of the army and echo squad is the most elite squad of soldiers in the entire army.

This squad leader is named Alexander Hawkes, twenty-eight years old, and a master of technology.

Down the road he can hear his second in command Lester Jamison yelling at something, or someone.

"Come the fuck on! What is this shit?! Do you want things to get ugly, because I can make things real fucking ugly?!" Something crashes and breaks. "What do you have to say about that bitch?!" Silence fills the area. "Oh, fuck you! Who can mess this up?! It's so simple!" More silence. "Apparently, I'm just stupid!" More things crash and break. "Will it work now?!" Even more silence. "Damn, this never ends, does it?!"

Alexander finally finds Lester standing in front of a vending machine. Lester wears red heavy armor which makes him appear slightly taller than Alexander. The armor is exactly the same except for the thickness of the titanium and weaves. Lester, being the weapon expert of the squad has larger storage areas for storing weapons as well.

"Alright, fuck it!" He rams his fist through the machine destroying much of the circuitry inside. He rips out a soda and some credits.

"Lester?!" Alexander yells.

"What is it?!" Lester yells.

"Why are you destroying a vending machine?!" Alex bellows.

"Why not?!" He returns.

"Because it's against the law!"

Lester takes a deep breath. "Alright, I'll explain to you the context of this majorly messed up situation. I got thirsty, which tends to be a common thing in the desert. So, I had the audacity to try and buy a soda from a vending machine." He raised his voice and pointed at the vending machine. "This piece of shit, decided to eat all of my credits and not give me the soda that I fucking asked for! Now this is what the damn resolution to this problem looks like." He pulls out two credits and tosses them at the machine. "That's all I owe you bitch!" He then walks over to Alex while placing the soda in his inventory. Once he finishes he looks at Alex. "Now, what type of business are we conducting today?" He asks calmly.

Alex shakes his head and starts to walk while Lester follows.

Alex starts to brief him on the mission. "We're going to be running recon on a changeling hive. I'm going to have Jason and Nicholas run the recon while the rest of us sit back here and watch the feed that they give us. Sound good?" There is no response from Lester. Alex looks back and finds Lester lying on ground a few meters away. Alex walks over to Lester and finds him snoring. Lester grunts and slowly stands back up.

"Ah, you were just boring me pretty badly there. So what are we doing, something about sitting?" He asks bored.

Alex lets out a heavy sigh. "Come on, I'll just show you."

* * *

**Half of an hour later**

Deep in the badlands a large rock formation stands. Inside lies an entire Changeling hive, constantly buzzing filled the area around from the Changelings inside. Outside of the hive taking cover behind some rocks are two humans.

Both of them peek over the side of the rock, one with binoculars and the other with a sniper rifle. The one with the binoculars wears blue armor and sniper wears tan armor.

"Nicholas, do you have the feed up?" The sniper asks.

"Yeah, we're giving them direct video through our helmets." The binocular wielding one responds.

"Alright, I'm seeing relatively low movement at this time." Through his rectangular scope he can see the front of the formation. Small holes can be seen in the rocks which lead down into the hive. "We have multiple entry points at the base of the rock formation; we could fit quite a few troops into there."

"Is that the only area we could enter?" Alex asks through the radio.

"I'm not quite sure, and those tunnels could be a deathtrap." Jason responds.

"Yeah, some flamethrowers should solve that problem." Lester comments.

"We're going to have to get closer for that to be a viable option." Nicholas responds.

"I already don't like this idea." Jason adds.

"Come on, I've got your back." Nicholas says as he stands up.

"Then let's get to it." Jason says as he engages his cloak.

Nicholas chuckles and engages his cloak.


End file.
